Syringe.



Patented Apr. I6, i90l.

.l. A. DUNN. l

SYBINGE. r {Applicaticn led Feb. 14, 1900.) (No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JESSE AUSTIN DUNN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SYRINGE.

'SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 672,207, dated April16, 1901. Application filed February 14, 1900. Serial No. 5,124. (Nomodel.)

To all u'llom [l 11mg/ @ontw/'11.:

Bo it known that l, Jnssn AUs'IIN DUNN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Gool; and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Syringes, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to syringes, and has for its object to provide anew and improved syringe of which the following is a description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is aView of a syringe embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinalsection through Fig. l. Fig. is an enlarged sectional View of the plugin the end of the syringe-tube. Fig. lljis an end View of this plug.Fig. 5 shows a modified construction. Fig. 6 shows-a furthermodification. Fig. 7 is a section on line 7 7, Fig. 5. Fig. 8 shows amodified form of valve or plug. Fig. 9 is a View of the shield for theend of the syringetube.

Like letters refer to like parts throughout the several figures. Y

When the ordinary bulb-syringe is used by dentists, physicians, andsurgeons in the practice of their profession, Aa number of differentmedicaments are alternately used in the same syringe, as it isimpraoticable to have a different syringe for each medicament. It issubstantially impossible or at least impracticable to prevent thesedifferent medicaments from coin-ing into contact with the bulb of thesyringe, as the air by which the syringe is operated must come throughthe same opening as the medicament. It will thus be seen that thesyringe cannot be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized when the medicamentis changed This feature, as will be readily understood, is of thegreatest importance in the administration of medicaments and has beenthe great drawback connected with the use of the ordinary bulb-syringein this field. Another objectio'n to the ordinary bulb-syringe isthatthe air must be drawn through the same opening as the medicaments, thusmixing air with the liquid when the syringe is being used.

The object of my invention is to provide a syringe for medical and otheruses which will be satisfactory and eiiicient and which will obviate theevils heretofore met with.

Referring now to the drawings, I have shown the syringe as made up ofthe tube or barrel A and the bulb B. The tube A is preferably ofglass,so that it may be easily cleaned, and the outer end may be formedin any desired manner or provided with any desired attachment. As hereinshown, I have illustrated the tube as provided with the cap C and theneedle C'. Ordinarily the air by means of which the medicament is forcedout of the syringe is drawn in through the tube A. In the presentinstance I arrange the parts so that only the medicament is drawn inthrough the tube A, the air which operates the device being admitted tothe bulb through an independent opening back of the tube. There is asuitable opening connecting the tube A and the bulb, so that the air maybe forced from the bulb into the tube in order to force the material outof the syringe during its operation. This opening may be formed in anydesired. manner and is normally substantially closed or inoperative whenno pressure is applied to the bulb. In other words, this communicatingopening or passage-way is so arranged that the medicament cannot passback through it into the bulb, and yet when the bulb is compressed theair may be forced therethrough, so as to force the medicament out at theend of the tube. As illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, the tube Ais open at the rear end and an elastic plug D is provided. This plug maybe of any suitable material, preferably rubber, and is provided with anormally closed or inoperative opening. This opening may be formed inany desired manner. As shown in Figs. l to 4, this opening is providedby m'utilating the rubber plug, so that the passage-way is v normallyclosed, the mutilated parts of the rubber permitting an open passage-wayfor the air when the bulb is compressed. As shown in these iigures, therubber is cut or mutilated at any desired point or points, so as to formthe normally closed or inoperative passage-way or passage-Ways E. Apiece E' is thrust into these cuts or mutilations of the rubber, and theplug is then forced into the end of the tube. The rubber then its snuglyIOO around the piece E', so that no liquid can run back of the plug. Therubber, however, gives when pressure is applied to the bulb B, so thatair may be forced through the cuts or mutilations in the rubber in orderto force the material out at the end of the tube. As illustrated inFigs. 2, 3, and 4, I. have shown the piece E' as madeiu the forni of aloop, so as to aid in removing the plug. The hnlb l5 is provided with asuitable air-inlet I' independent of the tube, so that air may enter thebulb back of said tube. This inlet may simply consist of an unobstructedopening, as shown in the drawings, the opening being controlled by meansof the thumb or finger. In this construction the finger is placed overthe opening when the bulb. is compressed. When it is desired to draw themedicament into the tube, the finger is held on the opening until asufficient amount of the medicament is drawn into the tube and may thenbe removed, so as to prevent the tube from becoming completely filled.'lhis precaution prevents any of theV medicament from being drawn upinto the bulb. After the medicament is in the tube it may be forced outin any desired manner by holding the iinger on the opening andcompressing the bulb to the desired extent.

The plug D may be termed a valve, for it acts to control the connectionbetween the tube and the bulb. Instead of forming the valve as shown inFigs. 2 to 4 I may provide some other suitable construction. In Fig. 5 Ihave shown a preferred valve const-ruction wherein the valve consists ofthe plug provided with a suitable cavity or hole D', which extends partway therethrough, leaving the end of the plug normally closed. Two slitsD2 and D3 are then made through this closed end, the two slits being atan angle to each other, as shown, for example, in Fig. 7, forming whatmay be termed a cruciate incision. This incision provides a normallyclosed, obstructed, or inoperative passage-Way, which prevents thematerial from running back into the bulb, but which opens under thepressure of the air when the bulb is manipulated. By providing the plugD with the opening D', Iam enabled to shorten the portion of the plugthrough which the normally closed passage-way is formed and still retainthe thick plug, which can be easily handled and which will retain itsposition in the tube. By this means the passage-way is not so long-andthe danger of its becoming obstructed is much lessened. Of course if thepassage-way is obstructed it will be opened by pushing a suitable needleor the like therethrough. It is of course evident that instead of makingthe hole D', I might make the plug itself thin and omit the hole; butsuch a construction is not as eicient and desirable as the one shown. Imay form the valve with a projecting part D? at the top, as shown, forexample, in Fig. 8.l This projection will extend from the top, so as tobe engaged by the thumb`A and tinger when it is desired to remove theplug. This construction facilitates manipulation in the way of handling,cleaning, &c., and as the valve is all in one part the liability of saidvalve to get out of order or the parts to become lost is greatlyreduced. It is of course evident that the incision in thc plug may bedifferent from that shown and that other constructions may be used toobtain this automatic valve. It is also evident thatthis automatic valvemay be used in other constructions than those herein shown. Theautomatic valve arrangement, for example, ma)7 be obtained even when theplug D is not used. I have shown one construction for this pur'pose inFig. G. ln this figure the end of the tube A is closed and thepassage-way E is formed by making a simple opening in the side of thetube, the opening being arranged so that it is normally closed by aportion of the bulb. Of course there may be more than one of thesepassage-ways, and the parts are so arranged that when no pressure isapplied to the bulb it will tit snugly over these passage-ways andprevent the material from passing out"into the bulb. When pressure isapplied to the bulb, however, and the inlet B is closed, the bulb willgive, so as to permit air to pass into the tube.

For purposes of illustrationV I have shown some simple constructionsembodying myinveution; but it is of course evident that the variousparts may be changed and some of the parts may be omitted and othersused with parts not herein shown without inyany manner departing fromthe spirit of my invention, and I therefore do not limit myself to theconstructions shown,

By changing the needle on the end of the tube I may transform thissyringe into any of the various sy ringes used by dentists,physicians,and surgeons-such as a d rop syringe, a hypoderinic syringe,and the like.

This syringe may also bek used in various arts and for various purposes.For example, it may be used to apply oil to delicate machinery where itis desired to have perfect control of the oil or apply a small amount ofoil atagiven point without the danger of having the oil spread or havingtoo much oil applied. In Fig. 5, for example, I have shown aconstruction particularly adapted for use in applying oil to machinery.In this construction the inlet B' may be omitted and the tube A is drawndown to a point A', thus providing the opening at the end of the desiredsize. This construction enables me to make the device cheaply and isdesirable for this and other uses. When the point is used, as shown inFig. 5, I prefer to provide a shield A2, which slips over the point andwhich is of suicient length to pass over the enlarged part A3of the tubeA. This shield may be made of any suitable material and is soconstructed that it stops the end of the hole in the point A andprevents the material from passing out of the tube. The shield alsoprotects the end IDO IIO

evaso? f the tube and prevents it from being broken by the falling ofthe device or by other rough handling. When this device isused as anoil-can, the amount, of oil can always be known and shows through thetransparent or glass tube A.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows: When it is desiredto use the syringe, the bulb is compressed, the inlet B be# ing closedbythe finger or by other means, and the end or needle is dipped into themedicament to be used. The bulb is then allowed to expand until theproper amount of material is in the tube, and before the tube iscompletely filled, in the event a larger quantity of material isdesired, the obstruction. to the inlet B' is removed, so as to insureagainst the material being drawn up into the bulb. This same result canbe obtained by having the capacity of the bulb smaller than the capacityof the tube, so that even when the bulb is completely compressed andthen released it will be unable to completely till the tube withmaterial. I have found that the syringe may now be inverted or held inany desired position, and yet none of the material will pass into thebulb. It will thus be seen that after the syringe is charged it may behandled in any desired manner and held in any desired position and thatits use is therefore in no manner restricted. When it is desired toforce the material out of the syringe, the inlet B' is obstructed bymeans of the finger or otherwise and the bulb compressed. The

normally closed passageway E is then opened by the pressure of the airand air is forced into the tube, thus forcing out the material. If it isdesired to force all of the material out ot' the tube at one time,.thebulb may be completely compressed, while if it is desired to force onlya part out the bulb may be again released, the inlet B being preferablyopen while the bulb is expanding. It will be seen that while the inlet Bis open or unobstructed the passage-way between the bulb and the tube Awill be closed and that even though the material in the tube passes downto the inner end thereof it cannot pass into the bulb,

as its weight alone is not suicient to open the passage-way. This resultcan be obtained and the parts so arranged that the passageway may beeasily opened when the bulb is compressed.

I claimy 1. A syringe, comprising a tube, a bulb provided with anair-admission opening and connected with said tube, a valve inV saidtube consisting o'f an elastic plug provided with an enlarged openingextending part way therethrough, one or more incisions through heremaining portionof the plug, which form an obstructed or normallyclosed passage-way between the tube and the bulb.

2. A syringe, comprising a tube, a bulb provided with an air-ad missionopening and connected with the end of said tube, au elastic portioninterposed between the opening in the tube and the opening in the bulb,said elastic portion provided with a normally closed openingtherethrough, said opening adapted however to open and permit thepassage of air under pressure in either direction.

3. A syringe, comprising a tube, a bulb provided with an air-admissionopening and connected with the end of said tube, a separate plug-likeelastic portion inserted in the end of the tube between the opening inthe tube and the opening in the bulb, said plug provided with a normallyclosed opening 'therethrough, said opening adapted however to open andpermit the passage of air under pressure in either direction.

4. Asyringe, comprising a tube, a bulb pro'

